New Mom Traditions From Around the World - My Best Birth2015-08-02T22:28:21Zhttp://www.mybestbirth.com/forum/topics/new-mom-traditions-from-around?commentId=3120006%3AComment%3A104857&x=1&feed=yes&xn_auth=noWith my almost 4 year old dau…tag:www.mybestbirth.com,2011-04-14:3120006:Comment:1048572011-04-14T17:53:57.478ZDanahttp://www.mybestbirth.com/profile/DanaSutton
<p>With my almost 4 year old daughter I was in bed for 1 week, on the bed for 1 week and around the bed for 1 week. Or I was supposed to be. After about a week and a half I got pretty antsy. My midwife admonished that I'd never have a time like this again-the next time I'd have another child to care for. I'm 4 mos. pg. with baby 2 and know that kind of dedicated time is just not going to be possible. The most important thing to me to take from this philosophy, though, is to honor myself and…</p>
<p>With my almost 4 year old daughter I was in bed for 1 week, on the bed for 1 week and around the bed for 1 week. Or I was supposed to be. After about a week and a half I got pretty antsy. My midwife admonished that I'd never have a time like this again-the next time I'd have another child to care for. I'm 4 mos. pg. with baby 2 and know that kind of dedicated time is just not going to be possible. The most important thing to me to take from this philosophy, though, is to honor myself and the miraculous process my baby, my family and I have just gone through. </p>
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<p>I met a mother who's son was born the same time as my daughter. She said, "I'm not going to let this whole pregnancy and birth thing get me down." She worked right up to birth and jumped right back into the office at 6 wks. I thought she was missing out but I think that's a very mainstream American idea-that we should be able to bounce back immediately and begin being super moms on top of super workers, spouses, etc. The idea that women can do it all is fine and dandy but in trying to do it all we often don't have time to stop and wonder at, absorb, evolve through the transitions in our lives. That is why I love and respect these post birth traditions in so many parts of the world. It's a concentrated period of time in which to go through a metamorphosis, if you will.</p>